From the one organization – it’s synergy attained by agen-

irector’sD NASA, along with 40 resident agencies and 60 technology-based companies, share the common costs of owning and operating the facility, making it

esk more cost effective for each agency to accomplish

its independent mission. With this effective cost-sharing philosophy and our reputation for state-of-the-art test facilities, highly STENNIS SPACE trained, professional work force and our commit- CENTER DIRECTOR ment to safety and customer satisfaction, SSC is Adm. Thomas Q. well poised to continue to grow and prosper. The Donaldson V commitment by Rolls-Royce and Ionatron to relo- USN (Ret.) cate to SSC are two prime examples of this growth. We can learn from the past while looking to the Next month, on June 24, Stennis Space Center future. Just as the SSME has evolved into a safer, (SSC) will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Space more reliable engine, SSC also continues to Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) “hot fire” testing in evolve. I am certain the future for NASA and the south Mississippi. That initial test signaled the Stennis family continues to be bright, and I look beginning of an era for propulsion testing among forward to another 30 years of rocket propulsion the Stennis family. Since that historic day, the testing and growth for our city. Stennis family has conducted more than 2,100 tests on SSMEs, including the ones that will help As summer time and vacations approach, please propel Space Shuttle Discovery into orbit when the be safe in all your activities, here on site and at Orbiter once again returns to flight. home. Wear sunscreen when needed, don't drink and drive, and be extra careful with boats and Over the course of the three decades that fol- watersports. Each one of you is much too precious lowed, many changes have been introduced to the to your family, friends, co-workers and SSC to be rocket propulsion testing here – and to SSC. injured at work or at play. In this issue of OASIS, you will find much more information on the history and transformation of the Space Shuttle Main Engines that roared to life at SSC in 1975. However, when that first hot fire occurred, our center, known then as the National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL), was a far cry from the federal and commercial city we have today. In fact, it was less than a year after that On the cover engine test that a flag-raising ceremony marked the official move of the Naval Oceanographic The cover art depicts an early Space Shuttle Main Engine test (top photo) at Program to NSTL. This move ushered in a NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC), and change that would eventually make SSC a cen- the 1 millionth second of Space Shuttle ter of excellence in naval oceanography and a Main Engine testing (bottom photo) at model of government efficiency. SSC in January 2004. For 30 years, SSC has tested and proven flight-worthy all of There is a culture, character and technical skill set the Space Shuttle’s Main Engines. that flourishes at SSC, and it doesn’t just reside in

Griffin takes helm as NASA Administrator

In his statement to the committee, Griffin said, “It is a daring move at any time for a national leader to call for the bold exploration of unknown worlds, a major effort at the very limit of the technical state of the art,” adding later, “in the 21st century and beyond, for America to continue to be preeminent among nations, it is necessary for us also to be the preeminent spacefaring nation.”

A holder of five master’s degrees and a Ph.D., Griffin also

made clear that, despite limited resources, “NASA can do more than one thing at a time.”

“My conclusion is that we as a nation can clearly afford

well-executed, vigorous programs in both robotic and human space exploration as well as in aeronautics. We know this. We did it,” he said, referring back to NASA’s accomplishmentsNASA Administrator Michael Griffin (left) takes the oath of office April 14. during the Apollo era.

Michael Griffin is returning to NASA as the agency’s 11th He closed his statement with a call for exploration: “IAdministrator. He reported to work at NASA Headquarters in believe that, if money is to be spent on space, there is littleWashington on April 14, the same day the Expedition 11 crew doubt that the huge majority of Americans would prefer tolaunched to the International Space Station. spend it on an exciting, outward-focused, destination-oriented program. And that is what the President’s Vision for Space “I have great confidence in the team that will carry out Exploration is about.”our nation’s exciting, outward-focused, destination-orientedprogram,” said Griffin. “I share with the agency a great senseof privilege that we have been given the wonderful opportuni- Experience:ty to extend humanity’s reach throughout the solar system.”  Space Department Head, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Administrator Griffin, who served as NASA’s Chief  President and CEO, In-Q-Tel, Inc.Engineer earlier in his career, takes the helm of the agency as  CEO of Magellan Systems, Inc.it’s charting a new course. The Space Shuttle fleet is poised to  Chief engineer and associate administrator forReturn to Flight, the first step in fulfilling the Vision for Space exploration at NASA Headquarters, also worked atExploration – a bold plan to return humans to the Moon, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoryjourney to Mars and beyond.  Deputy for Technology, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization In his first address to NASA employees, Griffin said hewould focus immediately on Return to Flight efforts, and Education:noted that the agency has much on its plate right now. “It’s  Bachelor’s degree in physics,going to be difficult, it’s going to be hectic, but we will do it Johns Hopkins Universitytogether,” he said.  Master’s degree in aerospace science, Catholic University of America He also told employees that he saw “nothing but cheers”  Ph.D. in aerospace engineering,in the public reaction to the Vision for Space Exploration. University of Maryland“People want a space program that goes somewhere and does  Master’s degree in electrical engineering,something,” he said. University of Southern California  Master’s degree in applied physics, Griffin was nominated by President George W. Bush on Johns Hopkins UniversityMarch 14, and confirmed by the United States Senate on  Master’s degree in business administration,April 13. At his confirmation hearing on April 12, he made Loyola Collegeclear that the “strategic vision for the U.S. manned space pro-  Master’s degree in civil engineering,gram is of exploration beyond low Earth orbit.” The George Washington University

Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator engine

successfully tested at SSC This phase one demonstrator engine uses dual preburners that provide oxygen- rich and hydrogen- rich staged combus- tion, expected to keep engine compo- nents cooler during flight. While attaining the desired objectives for the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology Program, the IPD engine tests also will demonstrate A 'plume' of fire lights up the night during the test at Stennis Space Center's E-1 Test Stand as the Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator engine is successfully fired April 28. component technolo- gies applicable to the goals of NASA’s An engine developed to demonstrate advanced rock- Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.et technologies for future launch vehicles was successful- NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate inly ignited April 28 during its test firing at NASA’s Stennis Washington and the Department of Defense’s IntegratedSpace Center (SSC). High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology Program are The initial tests on the engine, known as the jointly developing the IPD. The project is being managedIntegrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD), were con- by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwardsducted at SSC’s E-1 test stand. The purpose of the test Air Force Base in California in cooperation with NASA’sseries was to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala.the full-flow, staged combustion rocket engine cycle, and The demonstrator engine is a research and develop-to demonstrate advanced engine component technolo- ment activity intended to deliver advanced propulsiongies. technologies. The engine’s unique component technolo- The demonstrator engine test lasted 4.9 seconds. gies have been produced by industry partners, AerojetThis was the third of 22 planned static ground tests of and Rocketdyne. The technologies developed will benefitthe engine. many Department of Defense space-access programs, as well as NASA’s goal to power future missions to the The IPD project is the first of three phases of the Moon and beyond – cornerstones of the Vision forDepartment of Defense’s Integrated High Payoff Rocket Space Exploration, which seeks to expand human andPropulsion Technology Program, aimed at demonstrat- robotic exploration of the Solar System.ing technologies that double the capability of state-of- MSFC is partnering with the Department ofthe-art cryogenic booster engines. The project’s goal is to Defense to provide technical and programmatic sup-develop a full-flow, hydrogen-fueled, stage combustion port for the IPD. SSC is responsible for providingrocket engine. test services.

Stennis Space Center chosen as location

for NASA Shared Services Center

NASA announced May 9

that Computer SciencesCorporation (CSC) of Falls Church,Va., was selected as the prime contractor forthe NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC), and itwill be located at Stennis Space Center (SSC), in southMississippi. Artist’s rendering of the completed NSSC The total value of the contract, including all options,is approximately $230 million over the 10-year perform-ance period. Lockheed Martin supported CSC’s proposal by offering interim facilities at SSC while the new building is con- The NSSC will bring 450 jobs to SSC with an aver- structed.age salary of $50,000. It will be a consolidation of activi- The State of Louisiana assisted in this effort throughties being performed across a $1 million training supportNASA in the areas of human “The hard work and commitments package. More than 27 percentresources, procurement, financial by the states of Mississippi and of SSC employees live inmanagement and information Louisiana, as well as by our Louisiana.technology operations. NASAexpects significant annual savings NASA-contractor workforce, are “Naturally, we arefrom consolidating services, once evident in this selection.” pleased that NASA Stennisthe NSSC transition is complet- Space Center was chosen as – NASA SSC Directored. It is due to be operational in the site for NASA’s Shared Adm. Thomas Q. Donaldson V, USN (Ret.)October 2005. Services Center,” said NASA “We look forward to establishing a world-class SSC Director Adm. Thomas Q. Donaldson V, USN (Ret.).organization to provide the kind of timely, efficient and “This decision is a reflection of the outstanding con-effective support so important to NASA operations,” tractor team of CSC and Lockheed Martin that initiallysaid NSSC Executive Director Richard Arbuthnot. “We selected and proposed Stennis to be the site for thelook forward to working with CSC and the Stennis com- NSSC. The hard work and commitments by the states ofmunity to get the NSSC up and running.” Mississippi and Louisiana, as well as by our NASA-con- Selection was based on a competitive process. The tractor work force, are evident in this selection.”State of Mississippi passed a bond appropriation totaling For more information about the NSSC on the$23.7 million to provide the building for the NSSC. Internet, visit: http://nssc.nasa.gov/

SSC marks 30 years of Space

Thirty years ago there were no Internet, laptopcomputers or CDs; Gerald Ford was president;“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was on TV; and“Jaws” was at the movies. But in south Mississippi, NASA engineers weretesting a new reusable rocket engine, built to powerthe world's first reusable spacecraft – America’sSpace Shuttle. This year marks the 30th anniversary of testingthe Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) atNASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC), which willcommemorate the milestone event on June 24. Since the first test on May 19, 1975, theNASA-contractor team at SSC has conducted morethan 2,200 tests on SSMEs, including the ones thatwill help propel Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-114, NASA’s Return to Flight mission. A total of 10 tests were conducted in the firsttwo months to help establish fuel preburner, oxy-gen preburner and main combustion chamber igni-tion. Three years later, test teams at SSC were firingthe Main Propulsion Test Article: the three-enginecluster that helps propel the Space Shuttle intoorbit. On Jan. 21, 2004, SSC celebrated 1 million Onlookers take in an early static test-firing of a Space Shuttle Main Engine at NASA’s Stennis Spa Space Technology Laboratories.seconds of successful SSME engine firings, both intesting and flight operations. This milestone is a has never experienced a major anomaly.testament to the employees and to the engine itself, which “The unmatched reliability and durability of the SSME serves as an enormous credit to the NASA-contractor teams that have manufac- tured and tested the engine for three decades,” said Ronnie Rigney, SSME Project Manager at SSC. “They’ve done an extraor- dinary job.” There have been 113 missions since the first Space Shuttle took flight from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on April 12, 1981, all powered by SSMEs tested at SSC. The engines are tested on the A-1 and A- 2 Test Stands which were built in the 1960s to test the first and second stages of the Apollo Saturn V rocket that safely trans- ported Americans to the Moon. The stands were converted from the Apollo/Saturn VMembers of the NASA-contractor team at NASA’s Stennis Space Center view an early Space ShuttleMain Engine test from the Test Control Center. configuration to accommodate SSMEs. “The SSME is a unique engine, and 30

e Shuttle Main Engine testing

years of testing the engine at shipped to SSC for testing. After passing flight acceptance Stennis is highly unique, tests, they are weighed and subjected to a formal accept- also,” said Dave Geiger, The ance review, then shipped back to KSC for installation on Boeing Co.’s site manager at a Space Shuttle Orbiter. The result is a safe, strong, reliable SSC. “We have learned a lot engine, thoroughly tested at SSC for the last 30 years, and about how to not only ready to return the Space Shuttle to flight. improve the engine, but also “What’s amazing is that 30 years of knowledge has the test facilities and capabili- been passed on without a gap in important information,” ties.” said Miguel Rodriguez, SSC Propulsion Test Director. During testing at SSC, the “Most processes suffer through a knowledge gap over this engines are mounted ver- tically on the 185-foot-tall stands for test-firing. Instruments are added, and then the engines are hot-fire tested for dura- tions as long as 520 sec- onds (about 8-and-a-half minutes), the amount of time it takes to lift the Space Shuttle into space. Each SSME is 14 feet long, weighs about 7,000ace Center, then called the National pounds and is 7-and-a- half feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. The engine operates at greater temperature extremes than any other mechanical system in use today. It is An early Space Shuttle Main Engine is hoisted into the A-2 Test Stand at NASA”s Stennis Space Center before undergoing a test-firing. fueled by liquid hydrogen – at -423 degrees Fahrenheit, the second-coldest liquid on Earth. When it is combusted with liquid hydrogen, the tem- many years. Because this program has been continuously perature in the Main Combustion Chamber of the SSME maintained, others have had the opportunity to learn from is 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the boiling point people like Pat Mooney or Al Lenz of the SSME test of iron. The three SSMEs on a Space Shuttle produce the world, carrying on the 30 years of knowledge developed equivalent of more than 37 million horsepower; if they over the entire period. Indeed, a very unique situation.” pumped water instead of fuel, they could drain an average- After a Shuttle mission, the engines receive post-flight sized swimming pool in 25 seconds. inspections and maintenance at KSC, and then may be The Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power unit of The shipped back to SSC for a pre-flight acceptance test prior Boeing Co. in Canoga Park, Calif., manufactures the to use on another mission. SSME. Pratt and Whitney, a United Technologies The Space Shuttle’s Return to Flight begins the jour- Company of West Palm Beach, Fla., builds the high-pres- ney to finish construction of the International Space sure turbo pumps. Marshall Space Flight Center in Station, return to the Moon and go on to explore Mars Huntsville, Ala., manages the Space Shuttle Main Engine and the solar system. Discoveries from these explorations Project for the Space Shuttle Program. will continue to advance scientific knowledge as well as The engines are assembled at KSC in Florida and lead to the development of new, everyday technologies.

Inspiring the next Astronaut Fincke visits generation . . . Space Station exhibit NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke visits 'Space as only NASA can Station Imagination' with students from Resurrection Catholic School in Pascagoula on Jan. 25. The students were at StenniSphere, the visitor center at NASA's Stennis Space Center, to hear Fincke talk about his six-month stay aboard the International Space Station last year.

Model T club pays

a visit to SSC Hervey Purcell of Ocean Beginning Springs (pictured) and fellow Memorial Day weekend, members of the Magnolia Model StenniSphere, the visitor center at T Ford Club, along with mem- NASA’s Stennis Space Center, will be bers of the Model T Ford Club of open daily until 5 p.m. Guests can see America, toured SSC as part of the new Return to Flight exhibit, and tour their recent driving tour of the America’s largest rocket test complex. Gulf Coast. Tours begin at 10 a.m. from the Launch Pad, located at the Hancock County (Miss.) Welcome Center, Interstate 10, Exit 2. Visitors 18 years and older must Students celebrate Sun’s present a valid photo ID. Admission is importance at annual event free. For more information, call (800) From left, Orange Grove Elementary School students 237-1821 or visit www.nasa.gov/cen- Amanda Stone, Mya Hyman and Nailah Bell make ters/stennis/ home/index.html and click on the StenniSphere logo. solar clocks while visiting NASA’s Stennis Space Center for Sun-Earth Day. Sun-Earth Day is an annu- al celebration of the Sun and its connection to the Earth. Students participated in hands-on activities and learned about the importance of the Sun to ancient cultures.

Rolls Royce bringing jet engine testing facility to SSC

The facility will be used to test devel- opment and prototype engines for per- formance, noise and other factors.

Rolls-Royce will spend $42 million on

construction and facility upgrades as well as use existing infrastructure at the H-1 test facility at SSC.

“We are pleased that Rolls-Royce has

chosen our region to perform this work,” said Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott. “The peo- ple of Mississippi and Rolls-Royce have enjoyed a close relationship for some time and this relocation only enhances that Rolls-Royce will spend $42 million on construction and facility upgrades as well as partnership.” use existing infrastructure at the H-1 test facility (pictured) at SSC. Work involving the company’s two lat- est, high-thrust Trent engine programs will Rolls-Royce announced Feb. 15 that it had selected take place at SSC in 2007 when the Trent 900, which pow- NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) for relocation ers the Airbus A380, and the Trent 1000, being developed of its large-engines outdoor test facility from the United for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, both undergo noise meas- Kingdom. urement testing.

SSC volunteers help local teams succeed

in FIRST Robotics competitionsAt right, SSC employees Allan Forsman ofMississippi Space Services and M.J. Miller of theNaval Research Laboratory worked with Pearl RiverCentral and Picayune Memorial High School stu-dents to fine tune their robot at the FIRST RoboticsLone Star Regional competition. Other SSC mentorsat the event included NASA engineers Bo Clarke,James Cluff, Christine Powell and Scott Olive.Three Mississippi teams competed in the event. Thecombined team of Pearl River and Picayune made itto the quarterfinals. Gulfport High School won threeteam awards and made it to the semifinal round.Warren Central High School from Vicksburg won twoawards, including the runner-up medal.Gulfport and Provine High School from Jackson rep-resented Mississippi at national competition.SSC also helped four teams from Louisiana that com-peted in the FIRST regional in Duluth, Ga.: the NewOrleans Center for Science and Mathematics, MarionAbramson High School, O. Perry Walker High Schooland John F. Kennedy High School. Teams fromAbramson High School and the New Orleans Center forScience and Math were seeded high enough at the endof preliminary rounds to continue to the quarterfinal andsemifinal rounds, respectively.

AROUND ERC, Incorporated, receives George M. Low Award Ferrario now directs Environmental NASA presented ERC, Incorporated, the 2004 George M. Low Chemistry Lab at SSC Award in the small business service category. ERC was cited for its Joe Ferrario took over the reigns “outstanding contribution to the advancement of excellence in our as the new Director of the U.S. EPA’s nation’s space program.” Environmental Chemistry Laboratory (ECL) The George M. Low Award demonstrates NASA’s at SSC in October 2004. Ferrario, an inter- commitment to promote excellence and continual nationally recognized scientist in the area improvement by challenging the NASA-contractor of dioxin analytical chemistry, has been community to be a global benchmark of quality with the ECL since April 1988. His areas of management practices. specialization are dioxin analyses, trace organic analysis, environmental chemistry, The George M. Low Awards were presented by high and low resolution gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy Acting Administrator Fred Gregory at NASA’s 19th (gc/ms). annual Continual Improvement and Reinvention Conference in Alexandria, Va., on March 1-2. The Ferrario is responsible for managing and providing analytical sup- conference is attended by senior managers and port for all dioxin/furan/PCB-related projects, including the EPA's engineers from government and industry. It pro- Dioxin Reassessment and Dioxin Exposure Initiative. His work vides a forum for NASA and its contractor partners focuses on the development of analytical methods for the ultra- to exchange ideas, success stories and lessons trace analyses of environmental contaminants at sub part-per-tril- learned, providing the opportunity for participants lion levels. The ECL provides analytical support to the Office of to apply quality management practices in their own organizations. Pesticide Programs and is part of EPA’s efforts in support of The George M. Low trophy (pictured) contains a medallion alloyed Homeland Security, and has provided analytical support to both with material flown to the Moon and back on Apollo 11 in 1969, the OSHA and the Department of the Army at the World Trade Center first human lunar landing mission. and the Pentagon following the disaster of Sept. 11, 2001. ERC, Incorporated, is a privately-held small business providing Senator Lott’s staffers see SSC’s diverse capabilities high technology services and products to NASA, the Army and the Air Force. ERC was founded by Dr. Susan Wu in 1988, and has provided services to NASA for more than 15 years. In addition to corporate headquarters in Huntsville, Ala., ERC conducts business at NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) and other locations across the nation. For more information, visit www.erc-incorporated.com. Boeing employees receive engineering awards The Boeing Co.’s Christina P. Zeringue and David McConnell were honored with Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Awards at the San Fernando Valley Engineers’ Council’s 50th Anniversary Honors & Awards Banquet held recently. Zeringue, a test article engineer, was recognized for her efforts supporting Jim Sartucci, legislative director for Sen. Trent Lott, and other Lott SQL-RAMS and received the achievement award for her “signifi- staffers, visited SSC on March 30. The group toured sites for the cant contributions in bringing the SQL-based paperless planning new Rolls-Royce testing facility and the new Stennis Technology system online at Stennis Space Center.” Park; participated in an ocean coastal observation strategy meeting McConnell, who works in facility controls, was cited for his “out- with NASA, Navy, NOAA, and university representatives at SSC; standing contributions in building the SSC Facility Control System and toured SSC’s B-1 Test Stand, which could support testing and leading the way in meeting future testing requirements.” propulsion systems for future space vehicles.

O C E A N A I R S P A C E I N D U S T R Y S I T E PAGE 11

UR WORLDNaval Research Laboratory measures NAVOCEANO surveyors assist relief effort in Haitirecord hurricane wave NAVOCEANOThe largest wave ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico was meas- recently par-ured as Hurricane Ivan passed over a Naval Research Laboratory ticipated in a (NRL) instrument array. humanitarian and civic The 91-foot wave was measured with assistance instruments placed on the continental mission in shelf for the Slope to Shelf Energetics South and Exchange Dynamics (SEED) field America and experiment. The instrument array, con- the Caribbean sisting of six current profiler moorings sponsored by with wave/tide gauges, was deployed at the U.S. water depths ranging from 60 to 90 meters Southern just west of the DeSoto Canyon, about 100 miles Commandsouth of Gulfport. Some time between 8 p.m. and midnight on called NewSept. 15, 2004, the eye of Ivan passed through the center of the Horizons. Thearray and directly over four of the six instruments. group was tasked to conduct a beach clearance survey in Haiti, fol-Bill Teague, a physical oceanographer in NRL’s Ocean Sciences lowing many changes resulting from the active 2004 hurricane sea-Branch, said that most instruments in the ocean do not even sur- son, particularly Hurricane Jeanne in September 2004.vive near misses of such powerful storms, much less direct hits. The group was interested in identifying hazards to navigation in the“The moorings provided the best ocean measurements of currents Gulf of Gonaïves area and ensuring navigation clearance for theand waves ever obtained directly under a major hurricane,” said relief effort. The channel needed to be surveyed before U.S. NavyTeague. relief ships could proceed to unload 1,200 tons of supplies, equip-During the approach of Ivan, a moored buoy deployed by the ment and 50 Seabees on land.National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) near the west side of the Securing the safety of navigation was the duty of NAVOCEANO'sSEED array, registered a significant wave height of 53 ft. According Ian Fergusson, Skip Derry, Wally Stout and LCDR Chris Sterbis.to NDBC, this height appears to be the largest ever reported by Within seven days aboard Venturous, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter,NDBC from a hurricane and comes within a few tenths of a meter the team used sidescan sonar, GPS and a single-beamof NDBC's all-time record reported in the North Pacific. The buoy echosounder to successfully create the field charts they werebroke loose and was set adrift at 5 p.m. Sept. 15, just prior to the requested to provide.arrival of the main force of the hurricane. Different from other charts, field charts are produced and distrib-At array mooring number 3, located under the most intense winds, uted for special circumstances. In this case, it was the drasticthe maximum measured wave height of 91 feet (higher than an changes in the Haitian coastline because of the 2004 hurricanes.eight-story building) was part of a group of large waves where sev- The charts identified obstructions in and around the channel anderal waves reached heights of about 66 feet. approaches to Gonaïves.“These waves recorded by the SEED gauges are by far the largest In early February, due to the expertise of the NAVOCEANO teamwaves ever directly measured,” said David Wang, also an and the cooperation of the Venturous crew, the USS SAIPAN suc-oceanographer at NRL. cessfully unloaded its supplies, and the SeaBees disembarked toHowever, Teague said that waves of this magnitude would never begin rebuilding schools, drilling wells and providing other muchmake it to the shorelines along the Gulf of Mexico. Large waves in needed assistance.deep water tend to break, lose energy, and become smaller as theyenter shallower water approaching the coast, if they even make it For more information about NAVOCEANO, visitthat far. https://www.navo.navy.mil.

Testing at SSC paved the way

for first Space Shuttle flight

Testing of the Shuttle's Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA) on Stennis Space Center’s B Test Stand was critical before the launchof the first Space Shuttle in 1981. The MPTA consisted of a simulated Orbiter structure, aft propulsion compartment and a cluster ofthree Space Shuttle Main Engines.